The Galleria Mall History

[cowboybud]

I am curious!

Does anyone remember the original fast food restaurant that was in The Galleria parking lot? It had a chuck wagon look and feel. The building is still standing in The Galleria parking lot in the same location.

IIRC it was a Roy Rogers restaurant.

[GBryant]

IIRC it was a Roy Rogers restaurant.

Was it a Roy Rogers before it was a Lee's? I only remember the Lee's being there.

[Rosanna Lancaster]

I have a pair of boots that were bought there at the SAKOWITZ store. These vintage boots are in excellent condition for their age. I would love it if someone could tell me how much they could possibly be worth today. They have black glossy animal fur -deer like fur? from below the ankle to below the knee and black leather at the foot with a 4 inch high heel engraved 5 1/2 M on the bottom. it has brown leather interior on the inside and stamped with the SAKOWITZ logo made in Spain. It also has 2006 10 5 1/5 AA stamped in it as well. These boots look like nothing I've ever seen before at any shoe store today. These are Nice looking and also looks like it could be very expensive. These Boots were purchased at an estate sale in Ashville, Al from the estate of a Doctor who graduated college in Texas back in the 1950's.

Edited March 26, 2013 by Rosanna Lancaster

[Earlydays]

eBay will establish the value for you.....

[SpaceGhost]

Yeah you're kinda barking up the wrong tree here. These forums are for Houston, Tx related discussions. Your best bet is to find a boot or Sakowitz related forum. If this fails maybe contact Sakowitz?

[TexasFreeway.com]

I remember when Sakowitz closed the downtown store and consolidated to the Galleria location. I was a kid and worked to help move the phone system.

We got to rumage through what was left downtown. My parents still have a set of silver flatware used in the restaurant.

One of my chores was to crawl through the 30 foot ceiling and drop telephone lines to the cashier stations below.

[JJ18]

The Galleria in the 1980s !!! You're welcome!!

[Purpledevil]

Very cool. My favorite thing about the Galleria was being a long haired teen, walking through Marshall Field's with a couple of my equally undesirable looking friends in tow, and watching as the old snooty women would stare us down for even having the audacity to walk through their uppity store in route to the new Galleria III. I mean, how dare we!

We used to hang out in the parking garage near where Mickey D's & the second theater was. You could still smoke inside back then, just not what we were lighting up, lol.

[Reefmonkey]

Back when the Mariposa dining room was on the first floor of Neiman's Galleria location, the walls were decorated with white tiles with whimsical paintings in blue. Anyone know the story behind the artist, and if these tiles were preserved, and if so, where they ended up?

[Reefmonkey]

On 5/21/2008 at 10:44 AM, Vertigo58 said:

I am pretty certain Banana Republic was in the Main section is it called I? above the ice skate rink. I think it was on second level. Had Gilligan's Island-like decor, fake palms, bamboo, etc. (No Ginger Grant though)

Even today when you go into Neiman Marcus its like walking in to Fort Knox, seriously.

Hardcore security guards every where you turn and more cameras than Candid-Camera! Yes that makes ya feel real comfortable when buying that Rolex or Cartier, Choppard jewelry. Snicker

 

I happened across a used book the other day, and decided to buy it, it was written by the husband and wife founders of Banana Republic back in 1986, and is called "The Banana Republic Guide to Travel and Safari Clothing". It's a little history of the founding of the company, plus highlights their various mainstay safari clothing items, in the style of their catalogs, which were works of art in the pre-Gap era when they still were safari oriented.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345334795/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

There is also a website dedicated to the Banana Republic stores of the 80s, called "Abandoned Republic":

 

https://www.secretfanbase.com/banana/

 

My nostalgia for the old Banana Republic stores led me down a rabbit hole to thinking about The Nature Company stores. They were places to buy rain sticks, fossils, CDs of New Age music, and were a destination in themselves, kind of like a Banana Republic store used to be. Each Nature Company store had a giant waterfall near the entrance, and they were all dark slate tiles, with the sounds of the rainforest and stuff like that playing on the speakers. They were bought out by the Discovery Channel in 1996, and by 2001 they had all been turned into Discovery Channel Stores, and the slate and waterfalls were all gone. I always liked Discovery Channel stores ok, but thought they were never as cool as The Nature Company. 

 

I distinctly remember the Galleria Discovery Channel Store circa 1998, and I think I remember the location, and I wanna say it was on Level 2 of Galleria I, had a corner location.

 

I can't remember if that Discovery Channel Store had been a Nature Company before in that same location, or if the Galleria even had a Nature Company (I wanna say they did, but I also went to Willowbrook and Town & Country a lot in the late 80s - early 90s, so might be remembering it from there).

[IronTiger]

Discovery Channel Stores were neat, I remember visiting one in New Jersey when the chain was winding down business. My father bought a clock that projected the time on the ceiling (still in use in his bedroom) while I got a novelty inflatable tongue (which sadly didn't last).

 

[Kasper]

Link is dead. Any chance you have this vid elsewhere? What is it exactly?? I worked in the Galleria in 89 & 90.

[Kasper]

Several friends & I worked at various stores in the Galleria between 1988 & 1992, haven't seen its layout in years but can remember many store locations from that era if this project ever materializes. 

[hindesky]

[Houston19514]

Awesome picture.  Do you know what year that is?

[clutchcity94]

On 5/19/2008 at 4:50 PM, Pumapayam said:

Ha, I will email you the "high-res" version.

Bump. Would love to see this as well!

[bugtoaster]

On 5/20/2008 at 4:08 PM, isuredid said:

 I also remembered that Nan's Toys used to be in the Galleria, but the rent was too high to make a profit and she moved to SW Frwy. 

This is one of my more enigmatic memories of the Galleria. I mostly remember that Nan's had displays set up by the original movie theater during Star Wars' first run in 1977-78, when there was always a long line for it. The display featured bootleg lightsaber toys before the official Kenner version. The enigmatic part is that I cannot remember where the actual store was located, and it is hard to sort out my memories of it and other hobby shops of the time.

I vaguely remember they were selling Kenner's line of die-cast Star Wars toys, but not the rest of the Kenner toys. I also remember buying a book of Michael Goodwin's Star Trek cartoons, because I was not yet playing wargames or D&D, so it was hard to find something I could understand at a young age. 

Around 1983-84, Nan's was located about a mile west of the Galleria on Westheimer. It was next to Briargrove dollar theater, which sometimes played old cigarette commercials along with the film trailers. This incarnation of Nan's was pretty small, and the only comics they stocked at the time were ElfQuest and maybe a few more independents like Cerebus. I guess this was before the SW-Freeway location near Shepherd.

Edited September 26, 2021 by bugtoaster

[Gracia Hawkeye]

On 5/21/2008 at 9:57 AM, HarrisCountyEx said:

Ok, I'm ready to kick in here after some thought. My sister worked at U.S. Testing in the early '70's. That was the place that conducted the surveys. One time when I was spending a day with her there, Sandy Duncan came by and chatted with us. I actually liked El Felix or Fenix Mexican restaurant although I remember service being slow. Close by was a Corrigan's Jewelry store. On the second level, there was Margo's La Mode. I loved that store. There was an optical store named Lugene's. I think there was a Merry Go Round. I remember a leather store too. Later on in the early - mid '80's Banana Republic came in but I can't remember if it was I or II. I loved Marshall Fields. There was a store in II that was owned by Olivia Newton John I think it was Blue Kangaroo? In the eighty's I did some temp work for an oil company in the Galleria II building, but I cannot remember the name of it. I do remember they had the first Wang Word Processor I had ever used. It may still be there, but the hotel had a Zuchinnis restaurant that you could enter from the third level. (I'm really dating myself here.) I have alot of very fond memories from the Galleria.

The name of Olivia Newton John's store was Koala Blue.  I think Koala was an acronym for Korner of Australia in Los Angeles.  I remember there was an Australian opal store on the lower level. I loved to browse at that place.  

[BEES?!]

 

I’m always curious to learn more about the Galleria. I spent a fair amount of time there growing up (we went on “vacations” there a lot and always had a good time. We usually stayed at one of the attached hotels- but I can’t remember if it was the Oaks or the Galleria. One of them was less expensive, if I remember right- that was the one we stayed at.

I remember we got a cat from the SPCA outpost that was there in 2001- it was over in the really low traffic part of the mall (I think this was III), that ended up getting torn down and replaced. 

There was also a weird- I think it was a freight or service elevator- that my brothers and I would go into. I don’t remember that it was actually supposed to be public, but that didn’t stop us if it wasn’t. I also don’t remember where it actually went, but we ventured in there a couple of times as kids. 
 

The offices were always a bit strange, with the little balconies they had. We used to ride the elevators to the top floor and back for fun. We were very easily entertained kids, for sure. I recently went back (after covid), and was a bit sad that they don’t let you take the elevators to the top without a card key, it seems. (It was also super hot, like they didn’t have the A/C on. We were able to get up to the 5th or 6th floor, and we were dying. Are the higher floors not leased out, I wonder?)

Truth be told, I don’t venture much there anymore, even though I have a soft spot for it. Generally these days if I want to go to a mall, it’s Memorial City- they have done an excellent job making it a very comfortable place to eat, shop, and just hang out. 

[Kasper]

On 5/21/2008 at 9:28 AM, rsb320 said:

Does anybody remember the Yogurt Culture on the second level of the Galleria II? They made a killer quiche. Oh, nevermind, guys don't eat quiche.

There was an always-broken fire exit door to/from the roof that would dump you right behind this place in the food court up there. We used to roam the halls all hours of the night back in the late 80s

[Kasper]

On 5/21/2008 at 10:20 AM, rsb320 said:

Banana Repub was at (say) the southwest corner of the ice rink, on the second or third level of the Galleria I. I think it was more like the late 80's. I worked in the Galleria Towers during the mid 80's and think it came later.

I believe you're thinking of Yaga Ragz. Really small Jamaican-inspired store decorated just like this & carried mostly their own brand of t-shirts (remember the 'Mo Bettah' & 'Da Rootz Vibe' catchphrases they used on stuff) but a handful of OP, Hobie, Stussy, & Mossimo shirts & shorts back in the very beginnings of those surf fashion companies. That family started on the streets of Galveston in the 80's & moved their way up to the big leagues in the Galleria by the early 90's. Had LOTS of stuff from that store.

[Kasper]

On 5/21/2008 at 1:51 PM, Vertigo58 said:

Thats hilarious!

There hasn't beem much comments on the adjoining hotels, they deserve some of the notoriety of the Galleria ambiance.

We had our Stephen F Austin HS PROM at the Westin Oaks Hotel 1979 and then the reunion 20 years later 1999. Have mostly interior pics. Just the fact that we had our prom at The world famous Galleria made us think we were super special grads that great year!

We used to watch people walk around naked & have sex with the curtains open there back in the day. Lights on at night...guessing on purpose. There was a spot you could get onto the roof near the pool that gave you a view you couldn't get elsewhere. We used to climb to there then hop the fence to swim late at night in the summer & in the winter they usually drained it so we'd skateboard, make out "and stuff".

[Kasper]

On 5/21/2008 at 2:33 PM, rsb320 said:

We used to look at swimming pool-goers with binoculars, at the Oaks, from the Galleria II Towers

Every try binocs to watch the "swimming pool-goers" a block over at The Men's Club?? Yeah, there's an open-air VIP pool back there, shaped like a giant grand piano iirc

[Kasper]

On 12/18/2021 at 1:14 PM, BEES?! said:

 

I’m always curious to learn more about the Galleria. I spent a fair amount of time there growing up (we went on “vacations” there a lot and always had a good time. We usually stayed at one of the attached hotels- but I can’t remember if it was the Oaks or the Galleria. One of them was less expensive, if I remember right- that was the one we stayed at.

I remember we got a cat from the SPCA outpost that was there in 2001- it was over in the really low traffic part of the mall (I think this was III), that ended up getting torn down and replaced. 

There was also a weird- I think it was a freight or service elevator- that my brothers and I would go into. I don’t remember that it was actually supposed to be public, but that didn’t stop us if it wasn’t. I also don’t remember where it actually went, but we ventured in there a couple of times as kids. 
 

The offices were always a bit strange, with the little balconies they had. We used to ride the elevators to the top floor and back for fun. We were very easily entertained kids, for sure. I recently went back (after covid), and was a bit sad that they don’t let you take the elevators to the top without a card key, it seems. (It was also super hot, like they didn’t have the A/C on. We were able to get up to the 5th or 6th floor, and we were dying. Are the higher floors not leased out, I wonder?)

Truth be told, I don’t venture much there anymore, even though I have a soft spot for it. Generally these days if I want to go to a mall, it’s Memorial City- they have done an excellent job making it a very comfortable place to eat, shop, and just hang out. 

So those glass elevators exposed to that whole part of the mall & offices....one of the big 'bucket list' challenges we had back in high school (in the 80's) was to have sex in one from the time it took the doors to close, get to the top floor then back down again. Pretty easy feat at 17. Matter of fact, a buddy of mine has the record for twice in one trip. Good times.  

[Kasper]

Oh I got stories about the Galleria!  I pretty much grew up in the Galleria from 1983 until I moved to Austin in 1997. Parents frequently took me there & the general Galleria/Memorial area for shopping, dinners, Farrell's, ice skating, Christmas festivities, etc. until I was old enough to drive, then I practically lived there. When I wasn't working in one of the many clothing shops (almost exclusively for the discounts), we were hanging out there during the days, & sneaking back in at night to party, show off to our girlfriends, rollerblade the smooth floors. Remember vividly working at DJ's/Dejaiz & Cignal (the "high end" stores under the Merry-Go-Round umbrella), Tannery West (before Wilsons bought all the leather places out), Barney's of NY. Had many close friends that worked all over the mall:  Tiffany, Chanel,  Saks, Lord & Taylor, North Beach Leather, Charles Jourdan shoes, Wild Pair.  Seems like we'd see someone we knew really well every 5 minutes there. 

Also plenty of celebrity sightings. Had some local celebs (political types & news personalities) that were regular customers at some of the places I worked but we'd also run into all the local ball players & other athletes that trained there for Olympics, etc. Met Michelle Kwan at the ice rink (sooo tiny!! I was at least a foot taller than her). Used to see bigger celebs roaming the halls in between work. Saw an entourage of flashy folks headed my way & in the middle was Morris Day from The Time.  I normally say something to famous people if they make eye contact & it doesn't look like I'm chasing them down but he was so f-ing suave & in his own bubble that I just let him float by. He did notice that I recognized him so he flashed a huge smile, nodded a "what's up" and winked. That whole group looked they were in a music video.

Also spied another one of my musical idols Alex Van Halen walking the 2nd floor above where I was working and realized & was coming down the escalator in front of my store so I strolled out to meet him when he hit the bottom. We had already nodded a what's up at each other & he knew I was coming out so I guess already planned on having that fan chat. SUPER gracious dude, walked right up to me with his hand out, asked me how I was doing, etc. Told him I'd always been a huge fan, named a few of my fave songs ("Dude. Hot For Teacher. Are you KIDDING ME with that intro???"). My female coworker knew I wouldn't ask for an autograph but would treasure it so she ran out with a blank card & asked him to sign it TO ME! Lol Glad she did that now. It's been stored away for several years but remember exactly what it says. Addressed it to me by name & said "Keep rockin'!" & drew a stick figure of I assume himself but looks more like Ed, holding up his drumsticks, big hair & all.

Mentioned a few other nefarious events around the mall on other posts here: the "Mall High Club" in the glass elevators, crashing the hotel roof pool at night & watching what were most likely extramarital affairs and/or porn shoots going on live, lights-on thru open curtains, sneaking in from the roof really late at night into what used to be called Galleria III (not sure about the naming for the different sections now) into the smoothie place & either eating the ingredients or actually making smoothies. This is the area that had the newest, smoothest floors to rollerblade on, it was like an ice rink. It was also a relatively small square around the area so we'd have obstacle course/roller derby races. They eventually started rotating a security guard to roam the hallways of the whole mall but it was easy to time his loops by peeping thru the skylights in multiple parts of the mall from the roof. We knew once he left area III we had a good 30 minutes for shenanigans in that part of the mall. Rinse & repeat.

Too bad there were no cell phone cameras back then, would've had several movies worth of material! I do have some random disposable camera pics somewhere though but nothing too incriminating. Here's one of me & a couple of besties hanging out on the roof of Saks at like 2 or 3 am after some random night out in 1988, either at NRG or Xcess on a Saturday night. I'm on the far left. These are some of my best memories really, just a few chill friends with a boombox of good music, drinking beers under the stars & looking out at the Houston skyline, talking til sunrise.

 

Edited March 28, 2022 by Kasper
Added photo